NHS Waiting Lists - A work of fiction

[PrettyFedUp2025]

AIBU to be dismayed to learn the waiting list for an 'URGENT' hip replacement on the NHS (including subcontracting to private hospitals) is 1 year or longer in our local authority area?

To discover the published waiting times on the NHS 'My Planned Care App' are in reality a total work of fiction, despite each Hospital Trust or ICB supposed to be updating the lists weekly.

The only way to manage this sudden onset debilitating condition (bone on bone) has been to give up work and exist on benefits, which if totalled up for the year long wait are tripple the cost of immediate surgery with a surgeon at a private hospital.

What a waste of taxpayer's money.

I waited 18 months for an urgent op that I was told would be 6 weeks, I asked where I was on the list multiple times but they wouldn't tell me, they said the list got updated daily...ah,so there is a list then? Apparently so but they couldn't tell me where I was on it.

There was a scam where you would be given an appointment some years away, then you were no longer on a waiting list.

My husband has been waiting for an emergency heart operation that he was told needed to be done within 4 weeks of him being diagnosed to have the best chance of success. That was over 16 months ago. It's terrible that people are having to wait so long

Back in the noughties, my FIL waited 18 months for an "urgent" cancer operation where the waiting list target/deadline was 16/18 weeks. The NHS simply fudged it by moving him between hospitals/consultants for no obvious reason (restarting the "clock") changing his diagnosis/treatment plan (restarting the "clock"), etc. After 18 months, he finally got his operation, in the original hospital, under the original consultant, and it was under the original diagnosis/treatment plan. I wouldn't trust the NHS waiting list statistics as far as I could throw their management! It's all fudged. It's probably why the NHS doesn't try to follow the same "targets" anymore - they were a work of fiction back in the noughties and probably took a small army of administrators to assemble and process the data, all to make the bosses "Look good". Those of us who have either suffered ourselves or seen our family suffer under some of the crappest NHS in the last 20-30 years know how bad it can be if you're not one of the lucky ones to get a decent consultant in a decent hospital.

@taxguru I wouldn't trust anything they do to be honest. I remember some years back there was a huge coverage of the A&E waiting lists in the papers. The government then decided to "fix" the issue. I later understood that fixing it simply meant redefining what "waiting" actually meant. They just made sure that in most trusts someone came out to "see" you within 15 minutes of your arrival. That meant you have been "seen" within 15 minutes. The papers reported it as a huge success but, of course, in practice nothing changed because people still had to wait at least 4 hours to to be properly seen by someone who could actually take some action that may have led to either diagnosis or just making them feel better.

Defo contact your MP and explain you're costing the taxpayer so much more in benefits than if the NHS just paid for you to have it done privately now. Unlikely they can do anything but we need this highlighted!

I saw that too. My mum has been told she needs a knee replacement and the wait time is 3/4 months. She's very lucky to be in the area she is!

I've got a potentially suspicious lesion on my face, been referred to dermatology urgently, how urgent is urgent? Waiting list is 1 year! That's to even be seen in clinic!

I've just been referred for the same,the doctor took photos and has emailed dermatology and I'll hear back with a plan within 3 days. That's what happened last time I had one and was given a treatment plan and prescribed chemo cream. Clearly not all areas do this then 😢